Royal Challengers Bengaluru IPL 2026 Retentions: Full List Of Retained And Released Players, Purse Remaining

Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru have officially revealed their squad for IPL 2026, stepping into the new season with renewed belief after finally securing their maiden IPL title last year. With retentions completed, RCB have held on to their biggest pillars, including senior icon Virat Kohli and dependable middle-order contributor Rajat Patidar, while also strengthening depth across bowling, and all-round options. In some major releases, RCB let go Mayank Agarwal, Liam Livingstone, and Lungi Ngidi.

The biggest RCB name under the scanner was English all-rounder Liam Livingstone. The power-hitter, bought for Rs 8.75 crore, managed only 112 runs at an average of just 16 and scalped two wickets in the 10 matches he played in IPL 2025.

Despite Livingstone going out, RCB boast in-form Australian Tim David, wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma, the powerful Romario Shepherd, the emerging Jacob Bethell, and the ever-reliable Krunal Pandya as middle-order options.

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Mo Bobat and Andy Flower announce our player retentions ( pic.twitter.com/06powtTNaZ

— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) November 15, 2025

In another noticeable retention, RCB have kept Rasikh Dar Salam. He featured only twice for RCB in IPL 2025, despite being purchased for Rs 6 crore. The highest-paid uncapped Indian of the IPL 2025 mega auction could pick just one wicket in the two games that he played.

Here's a look at the newly announced Royal Challengers Bengaluru squad for IPL 2026 -

Players Retained: Rajat Patidar (c), Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Swapnil Singh, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Jacob Bethell, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Nuwan Thushara, Rasikh Salam, Abhinandan Singh, and Suyash Sharma.

Players Released: Swastik Chikara, Mayank Agarwal, Liam Livingstone, Manoj Bhandage, Lungi Ngidi, Mohit Rathee.

Remaining Purse: Rs 16.4 crore.

Topics mentioned in this article

Royal Challengers Bengaluru Virat Kohli Rajat Patidar Jitesh Sharma IPL 2026 Cricket